Sunday, September 4, 2016

The Need for Speed !!

In the early nineties, a Japanese Business delegation
visited India to explore investment opportunities. There were the usual
cultural shows and a visit to the Taj Mahal, among other things as part of
their itinerary. An interesting part of their visit was a train journey from
Mumbai to Pune. The journey was largely uneventful and took between three to
four hours. After reaching Pune, one of the members of the delegation curiously
enquired about the total distance between the two cities to their Indian host
accompanying them.

“It would be anything between a hundred to a hundred and ten
kilometres.”, the Host replied.

“Just over a hundred Kilometres?? And the journey took over
three hours?”, the Japanese visitor asked, aghast! “In Japan, this distance
would have taken anytime between half an hour and forty five minutes via bullet
train.”

The host did not have any answer to his visitor’s claim. But
the conversation does open up a new and radical line of thought. What if an ultra-high
speed train service was to exist between both cities? And what if it were to
exist between all major cities in India?

India ranks among the largest railway networks in the world
with a staggering Sixty Seven thousand three hundred and twelve kilometres of
route covered (source: Wikipedia). Given
the huge size of our country along with the extent of our railway network
coupled with high demand and traffic, it is very surprising to know why High
Speed Rail (HSR) networks were so long in coming to India. One only wonders why
it took so long for the authorities to wake up. After all, major countries
including China have developed their own HSR networks. Why should we fall
behind?

The Indian Government’s recent announcement of setting up a High
Speed rail network in the ultra-busy Mumbai Ahmedabad route comes as a welcome
relief after years of speculation and false promises. Of course, Rome was not
built in a day. Feasibility studies are ongoing. Other viable routes are being
studied and it will be some years before dreams materialize into reality. But
anyhow, it’s a step in the right direction. Towards progress. And let me
illustrate how. The Mumbai Rajdhani Express, the fastest train in the
Mumbai-Delhi corridor and the third fastest train in India covers the distance
between Mumbai and New Delhi (1384 kms) in an average time of Fifteen hours and
forty two minutes. Imagine how wonderful it would be if the travel time between
both cities is reduced to a mere four hours. The Super-fast Mumbai Ahmedabad
Shatabdi Express covers the 500 kms distance between both cities in an average
time of Six hours and forty five minutes. What if the travel time between both
cities would be reduced to a mere one and a half hours?

The Japanese 'Shinkansen' model bullet train.

Time saving and speedy travel is just the tip of the iceberg.
There are other inherent advantages. Let’s say a person Mr. X is a Computer
Engineering professional who stays in Mysore. Due to a local paucity of jobs he
finds suitable employment in nearby Bangalore. It takes two to two and a half
hours for him to travel between both cities one way, something which is not
convenient on a daily basis as his job demands that he work hard and stay long
hours. Therefore, he is forced to take up accommodation in Bangalore.
Accommodation is expensive as rents in Bangalore are sky-high. But given his
situation, he has no other choice. His tale is similar to that of many young
engineers in his position who are forced to stay in big cities like Bangalore,
adding to the growing number of residents in the city. This in turn puts
immense strain on civic authorities to provide basic amenities such as clean
drinking water, public transport and sanitation to cities with a burgeoning
population which are already oversaturated. More number of people in the city
also means more crowds, more security hassles, more vehicles and more
pollution.

But imagine if the situation was reversed. What if there was a high
speed rail network running full time between Mysore and Bangalore which took
only fifteen to thirty minutes to complete the journey? Now Mr. X can happily
live in Mysore, take the morning train to Bangalore and work till late. He can
return again by train in the night, just in time for a steaming hot delicious
dinner after which he can sleep easy and get fresh for work the next day. Now
he is no longer on the mercy of greedy landlords who charge ultra-high rents
for sub-standard accommodation. He no longer has to face the merciless travails
of living in a big city such as traffic jams, high cost of living, congestion
and poor cleanliness, among others.

As illustrated above, introduction of HSR networks have huge potential for benefits in terms of reduction of travel time and other advantages as
mentioned earlier. But if the HSR network only connects the big cities, then it
would be a task incomplete. We should
actually connect smaller towns and cities to major metros via HSR. As
mentioned earlier, most of the jobs are concentrated in these major urban
areas. People living in small towns are forced to migrate to big cities in
search of employment and stay there despite the many pitfalls they will face. Introduction
of High Speed trains between small towns to big cities will greatly reduce the
travel time. People will now be able to live and commute easily from their
home-towns without getting uprooted. This means fewer people will now migrate
to bigger cities. This will bring down the already swelling population level in
metros. This in turn, will reduce the congestion and pollution which currently
plague all big cities in India. This shift in demographics will also force the
Government to now concentrate its’ development on smaller cities. Overall, it’s
a win-win situation.

But there also lie major challenges in HSR implementation.
Cost is the major factor. Current studies have indicated that it would not be
feasible to setup HSR networks on existing railway lines, as our current track
setup is not stable enough to support a high speed train traveling well in
advance of Three hundred kilometers per hour. Therefore, a special elevated line
is planned to be constructed for the same. Costs of constructing such an
elevated network spread across many hundreds of kilometers will run into
thousands of crores of rupees. Ticket pricing would be another major challenge.
Tickets should be priced low enough for the common man to not feel
financially burdened to travel by HSR, but at the same time be competitive enough to enable the government to recover its’ money fully and
start making profits in a relatively short span of time. There are other
hurdles as well such as setting up the related infrastructure, land acquisition
etc. which could take up a huge amount of time and resources considering red
tape and how lethargic government processes generally are. But our newly
elected government is citizen centric and is eager to win the trust of the
people by speeding up processes and removing unnecessary hurdles. Of course, no
cost is too high to make your citizens happy.

But then again, not everyone will be happy with the introduction
of HSR. The thriving domestic airline industry will surely take a hit. If the
HSR tickets are priced competitively, making it within reach of the average
middle class salaried person, people will surely prefer travelling by train
rather than flight. Airline Companies would be forced to lower prices in order
to stay afloat. Many will resort to lay-offs and ruthlessly cut corners in
order to add revenue and make their business sustainable. Those who will not be
able to do so will have to shut shop. Also in the not-happy-with-HSR list will
be real estate agents and brokers in big cities, people who have been making a
tidy living of the earnings of hapless people by charging exorbitant amounts in
rent and brokerage. That will be due to the fact that speedy means of transport
by HSR will ensure fewer people are forced to migrate to big cities, which
means fewer customers. Demand will fall, rates will crash and builders will have
to target smaller cities.

Whatever the pitfalls and challenges are, HSR’s are surely a
step in the right direction. Change is inevitable, no matter what the cost. And
this change has been long in waiting. History has taught us that those who have
adapted to change and have accepted it have been the ones to survive and
prosper. But there is a very wide line between expectations and reality. How soon
and how effectively the government delivers on it’s promises is yet to be seen,
but for now one can only be contended waiting … and dreaming !!

Here’s my artistic impression of how the proposed HSR
network should look like across India. Sorry for the crude map and haphazard
lines. For now, I have only connected the metros and major cities of India. But
time permitting, I will add detailed regional maps soon.

A note for my brethren from the North-East(NE): Apologies if you
see the NE region not included in the high level map. I have very little idea
of the topography and the locations of the capitals and major cities of the seven
sisters. As I said earlier, time permitting I will add more detailed maps and
the NE region will definitely be included too. In fact, I urge the government
to also consider the NE in the scheme of things for HSR. Of course, it goes
without saying the government will consider the NE much, much later as they
will first concentrating on introducing HSR in the mainland first. But surely,
our brothers and sisters from the NE deserve it. For too long have they been
isolated from the growth and development process of the country. Any positive
change towards progress should also include the NE, else the process will not
be deemed complete. There are major challenges which lie in implementing HSR in
the NE; the main one being the rugged and mountainous terrain which will impede
speedy construction. But the task, no matter how daunting it may seem is
definitely not impossible. Countries having similar landscape to the NE such as
Switzerland have implemented effective rail networks despite the physical
challenges, so I don’t see why it should be any different for the NE. In fact,
planning and executing this task could be just the challenge our nation’s
engineers are waiting for. If planned and executed smoothly, the HSR in the NE
region could be one of the world’s foremost engineering marvels.

Another engineering marvel would also be accomplished if we
build these HSR networks ingenuously rather than depend upon foreign nations
for technical know-how. That again is a daunting task, but nothing challenging or
rewarding comes easy. True, we might need their technical expertise initially,
but later on we need to phase out and start building our own.

Edit: One of my many friends in Facebook dropped an interesting comment for this post. Repeating my friends' words, there is no point for Mr.X to travel 100 km from Mysore to Bangalore in under 30 minutes and then get frustrated for traveling for over 2 hours to reach his office 20 kilometers away from the train station, given the current state of Bangalore's traffic. Of course, it goes without saying that local and regional development have to go in step with national development.

Well, that’s just my two cents. Comments and criticism are
most welcome.